May 16, 2015

When an App Goes Awry, Happy Apps' Alert Rules Let You Decide Who Gets the Call

Written by
Gen

Even a system with five-nines uptime experiences an outage eventually. When the inevitable bump in the road is encountered, you want to get things running again as quickly as possible. Troubleshooting a glitch with an app, database, or other system begins by being notified about it. The Alert Rules options in the Happy Apps app-management service let you determine who receives the notification, what specific conditions trigger the alert, and how the notification is sent.

When an app, database, or other system you're monitoring hits a rough patch, the quicker you respond, the less damage will result. The key is to deliver the outage information to the person or people responsible for getting the system back up to speed, without overburdening them with unnecessary notifications.

The Alert Rules feature in the Happy Apps app-monitoring service lets you set notifications based on severity for individual components, groups of components, or all the components comprising an app. To create an alert, click the Admin tab at the top-right of the main Happy Apps screen, choose Alert Rules in the Admin menu bar, and select the Add Rule button.

Create an Alert Rule in Happy Apps by clicking the Add Rule button under Alert Rules in the Admin window. Source: Happy Apps

In the Add Alert dialog, enter a name for the alert, and choose the minimum severity level that will trigger the alert (Critical, Warning, or Info). Set the minimum duration before the alert is transmitted in the text box below the severity-level drop-down menu. The default setting is Immediate, but you can enter any number of minutes to delay the notification, either by typing it or using the up and down arrow keys. To prevent the alert from sending any notifications, uncheck the Active option in the top-right corner.

Give the new alert a name, select the severity level that will cause a notification to be sent, and set the delay before sending the alert. Source: Happy Apps

Digging deeper into the Add Alert dialog's options

In the Filters section of the Add Alert dialog you determine the apps, groups, and checks that the alert will apply to. You can either choose the specific components the alert will affect, or associate the alert with all your apps, groups, or checks by checking the Select All option at the top of the list. The chosen items appear in the Selected section.

Choose the apps, groups, and checks the alert will affect in the Filters section of the Add Alert dialog, or check the Select All option to apply it to all apps, groups, or checks. Source: Happy Apps

To add a recipient to receive the alert, click the Add Recipient button in the Recipients section. Enter the recipient's name in the user field, which automatically searches your contacts as you type. Select the notification method in the drop-down menu that appears once a name is selected: email, SMS, both, or neither. Check the Notify on Change box to have the alert sent to the person when an incident escalates. Select the Notify on Close box to alert the user when the check is passing again and the incident closes.

When you add an alert recipient, you enter a name from your contacts, choose the notification method, and set the criteria that will trigger the alert. Source: Happy Apps

When the time comes for an alert to be altered, you can do so by clicking the pencil icon to the right of its entry on the Alert Rules screen. Make the required changes in the Edit Alert dialog that opens, and then click the Save button in the bottom-left corner of the window. To delete an alert, simply click the trashcan icon next to the Edit button in its listing on the main Alert Rules screen.

Happy Apps is a robust app-management service to support SSH and agent-based connectivity to all your apps on public, private, and hybrid clouds. The service provides dependency maps for determining the impact your IT systems will have on other apps. All checks performed on your apps are collected in easy-to-read reports that can be analyzed to identify repeating patterns and performance glitches over time. If you're looking for ways to save time, trouble, and money when managing your apps, visit the Happy Apps site for pricing information and to sign up for a free trial.